needham



2 Sheets-Sheet l.

E. P. & G. H. NEEDHAM. Mechanical Musioal lnstrument.

No. 224,716. Pafentegl Feb. 17, 1880.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. P, & 0. H. NEEDHAM. Mechanical Musical-Instrument. No. 224,716. Patented Feb. 17, 1880,.

) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIAS P. NEEDHAM AND ORVVELL H. NEEDHAM, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 224,716, dated February 17, 1880.

Application filed July 11, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ELIAS P. NEEDHAM and ORWELL H. NEEDHAM, both of the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanical Musical Instrum ents, of which the following is a specification.

()urinvention relates to that class of mechanical wind musical instruments in which pneum atic keys are employed to actuate the soundproducing devices, the operation of the pneumatic keys being preferably controlled by the passage of a perforated or equivalently-prepared music-sheet over apertures in an actionboard.

In all wind-instruments it is found that the best results are obtained when air of only a moderate pressure is used to operate the pipes or reeds. Such a pressure, however, might not always be suflicient to actuate pneumatic keys for efi'ectin g the various operations necessary for playingviz., opening valves and working swells and stops, or doing such other mechanical work about an organ or other instrument as may be desirable.

Our invention consists, essentially, in the combination, in a wind-instrument constructed and adapted to be played by pneumatic keys, of two separate wind-chests, one for supplying the air to work the pneumatic keys and another for supplying air to the reeds or pipes, the former containing air of a greater pressure than the latter, and a valve or valves actuated by said pneumatic keys for controlling the emission of air from the wind-chest containing the lesser pressure.

It also consists in novel combinations of parts for adapting pneumatic keys to mechanical musical instruments the playing of which is performed by means of perforated or equivalently-prepared paper.

' In the accompanying drawings, Figurelrepresents a central vertical section of a mechanical musical instrument embodying our improvements. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the dotted line 00 00, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a similar section on the dotted line y y, Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A B designate two wind chests or chambers, both of which preferably contain air of a greater pressure than the atmosphere, and one of which, A, is adapted to contain air of a greater pressure than the other, B.

The chamber A is supplied with air by a duct or passage, A, leading from a receiver, 0, which in this instance forms the base of the instrument, and into which air is pumped by a bellows, C, under control of valves a and I), or by a force-pum p. This receiver (l is provided with abellows-like portion, which may be acted upon by weights or springs for the purpose of maintaining a uniform pressure of air in the wind-chest A.

The wind-chestBis supplied with air through an aperture, 0, (see Fig. 2,) communicating with the receiver B, into which air is forced by a bellows, D, under control of valves (I and c. Communicating with the receiver B is a bellows-like portion, B which may be acted upon by a weight or springs for the purpose of maintaining a uniform pressure of air in the wind-chest B and in order to prevent the pressure within it from increasing beyond a certain point the said receiver is provided up on its top with an outwardly-opening valve,f, (here represented as a pallet-valve,) which, when the air increases beyond the desired pressure, opens against the force of a spring or weight. (Not here represented.)

Instead of maintaining a pressure of air in the wind-chest B, the air may be exhausted therefrom.

For convenience of operation the two bellows G and D maybeconnected at their sides, as represented at 9, so as to be operated simultaneously. In lieu of these bellows, forcepumps might be employed.

E designates an action board, which communicates with and may be placed within the wind-chest A; and F designates a perforated music-sheet secured to rollers G, and adapted to be fed from one to another of said rollers over said action-board. The action-board has in it a series of ducts or passages, h. (Here represented as three in number, and each communicating with a chamber, H, shown as arranged below the w-ind-chests A and B.)

In lieu of a perforated music-sheet, a sheet having recesses in or projections uponit, which act upon jacks or levers for opening the passsages in the action-board, may be employed.

Within each of the chambers H is arranged a pneumatic key, H adapted to be forced upward by the pressure of air below it, and com municatin g with the atmosphere through an aperture, i, to permit of its free movement. Although these pneumatic keys H are represented as hinged atj, they may be constructed in any desirable manneras, for instance, adapted to be raised bodily by the action of the air below them; or they may be made in the form of bellows.

I designates a series of pallet-valves, corresponding in number with the pneumatic keys H; and I designates push-pins, which communicate motion from the pneumatic keys to the valves I. When the said valves I are opened by the action of the said pneumatic keys the air contained in the windchest B passes through the ducts or passages is to the pipes J or other souml-producing devices such, for instance, as reeds.

In addition to the ducts or passages it, leading to the pneumatic keys, I have shown the action-board as provided with other ducts or passages, l, communicating through the horizontally-arranged ducts l with the chambers K, in which are placed other pneumatic keys, L, which, through push-pins m, may operate at n in the drawings, or one or more swells, M. (See Fig. 3.) In addition to these, other pneumatic keys mightbe employed to operate stops or perform any desired mechanical work about a musical instrument. Although the pneumatic keys Il may be made to operate similarly to the keys H, they are here represented as plunger-like in form, and are adapted to be raised bodily by the pressure of air below them. To render the action of the keys L more sensitive, we prefer to recess or hollow out the said keys on their under sides, as clearly represented in Fig. 3, so as to allow the air to spread throughoutits whole extent.

By our invention the air for operating the pipes or reeds may at all times be maintained at a uniform pressure, regardless of the pressure of air required to work the swells, stops, or other mechanical devices.

hat we claim as our invention, and de sire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a mechanical musicalinstrument constructed and adapted to be played by pneumatic keys, the combination of two separate wind-chests, one for supplying air to work the pneumatic keys and another for supplying air to the reeds or pipes, the former containing air of a greater pressure than the latter, and a valve actuated by said pneumatic keys for controlling the emission of air from the windchest containing the lesser pressure, substantially as specified.

2. In a mechanical musical instrument constructed and adapted to be played by pneumatic keys, the combination, with two separate wind-chestsone for supplyin gair to work the pneumatic keys and another for supplying air to the reeds or pipes, the former for containing air of a greater pressure than the latterof an action-board, a perforated or equivalentlyprepared music sheet passing over said action-board, whereby the passage of air from the wind-chest to the pneumatic keys is controlled, and a valve or valves actuated by said pneumatic keys for controlling the emission of air from the wind-chest containing the lesser pressure, substantially as specified.

3. In a mechanical musicalinstrument constructed and adapted to be played by pneumatic keys, the combination, with the separate wind-chests, one for supplying air to work the pneumatic keys and the other for supplying air to the reeds or pipes, the former containing air of a greater pressure than the latter, of an action-board and a perforated or equivalently-prepared music-sheet, both arranged in the wind chest containing the greater pressure, and serving to control the operation of the pneui'natic keys, and a valve or valves actuated by said pneumatic keys for control ling the emission of air from the wind-chest containing the lesser pressure, substantially as specified.

4. The combination, with apneumatic key, of a pressure or blowing bellows or pump for operating the same, a wind-chest supplied by said bellows, an action-board, and a perforated music-sheet, also arranged within said windchcst and passingoveropenings in said board communicating with said keys, substantially as specified.

5. In a mechanical musical instrument, the combination of two wind-chests and pumps or pressure-bellows for keeping them so filled or supplied with air that the air in one is at a greater pressure than that in the other, valves for controlling the communication between the wind-chest which is to contain the lesser pressure and the pipes or reeds, an action-board in communication with the windchest which is to contain the greater pressure, and a perfo ated or equivalently prepared music-sheet arranged to work over openings in the said action-board.

ELIAS P. NEEDHAM. O. H. NEEDHAM.

Witnesses HENRY T. BROWN, FREDK. HAYNES. 

